Although Google's Project Ara modular smartphone has been announced back in late October 2013, and an early prototype was revealed at Google I/O 2014 (where it froze and completely failed to boot), others managed to bring this concept to the market faster. While the dual-boot Shift5+ modular handset is expected to reach the market next year, the Android-driven Fairphone 2 starts shipping today.

According to the official blog post by Fairphone's Online Communications Manager Joe Mier, delivery of the first Fairphone 2 handsets has begun and "there are around 200 phones shipping across Europe. Another 200 will arrive at the distribution center tomorrow, and 1,600 phones are expected to leave China tomorrow. In total, we expect to ship 1,000 phones to owners before the end of the year."

Unfortunately, only units with black matte back covers will be sent before Christmas, but there is no information on the delivery of the other colors yet. This €525 EUR modular handset comes with Android 5.1 Lollipop, a Qualcomm Snapdragon 801 SoC, 2 GB memory and 32 GB internal storage, dual-SIM, 2 MP and 8 MP cameras, all powered by a 2420 mAh lithium-ion power pack.

Although I have been writing about new software and hardware for almost a decade, I consider myself to be old school. I always enjoy listening to music on CD or tape instead of digital files and I will not even get into the touchscreen vs physical keys debate. However, I also enjoy new technology, as I now have the chance to take a look at the future every day. I joined the Notebookcheck crew back in 2013 and I have no plans to leave the ship anytime soon.